I asked the KTT writers the same question I asked the Bible Study group: “What is the most dangerous or challenging situation you ever faced?” Several writers responded, so I shared One and Part Two; today is Part Three of their stories.
Det. Brandon Burley (Ret.), M.P.A., is a freelance writer for KnoxTNToday.
His story follows. “I was deployed as an Infantry Marine to both Iraq and Afghanistan. I am a retired detective, and still, none of those experiences compares to the most challenging situation I have ever faced. It was giving my life to Christ. Understanding that I am not in control, Jesus paid the price for me, and I will live eternally in Heaven. Sometimes the most dangerous thing we can do is unlock our minds to consider things we may have thought were unlikely.
Tom Harrington is a regular hiker who reports on his hikes and mountain stories from the Smokies in his weekly column, Hiking with Harrington.
His story follows.Years ago, I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail returning to Cosby from Mt. Cammerer when I came around a curve and saw a mother bear with two cubs on the trail. I turned to go back around the curve in the opposite direction; however, the sow was approaching me rapidly. I stood and faced her. About 20 feet from me, she stopped and swatted the ground as she huffed at me. It is said that the huffing is intended to frighten you, and I must add that it works. I had chill bumps down my back and arms. The sow went back to her cubs, circled them several times while looking at me, and then they wandered on down the trail. I waited 30 minutes before I proceeded down the trail.
Melanie Staten is a public relations consultant and a freelance writer for KnoxTNToday.
Her story follows. “On the morning of my eighth-grade graduation from Carl Sandburg Junior High in Northern Illinois, my mother woke my brother and me up at 6 a.m. She said she had a headache, so we should go downstairs. This didn’t make sense to my junior high mind. She said, “Hurry. We are going to have a tornado.” I looked outside. It was a beautiful June morning. We went downstairs quickly, but not before I grabbed my transistor radio (boy, am I dating myself) and the cat. I turned on WLS in Chicago, the strongest station we could get. The weather report was clear. There was no mention of tornadoes. Quickly, it got pitch black. The basement was partially underground, but we could see a small portion of the swirling dark sky through the windows. The wind picked up, and then we heard it: the freight train sound. We got away from the windows while the house shook. It was made of brick. The sound was deafening, and our ears hurt from the vacuum. I was sure we weren’t going to make it. I prayed. Just a few weeks earlier, another set of deadly tornadoes had devastated the area.
It ended after about ten seconds. As quickly as it started, it ended. Deadly silence. We went upstairs, rather shaken, then ventured outside. We were spared. The tornado skipped over our house. Most neighbors had roof damage, but some on the adjacent streets weren’t so lucky. Roofs were gone, and walls were blown away. Trees were toppled and twisted into pretzels. Cars and boats were everywhere.
Not knowing the complete extent of the damage and whether buses would be running, my mother drove me to school. After dodging fallen trees and electrical lines, we rounded the corner and found there wasn’t much of a school left. The gym was gone, as were many classrooms. Had the tornado hit two hours later, with school in session, there would have undoubtedly been an even worse ending with casualties and fatalities. I’ll never forget that sight when we rounded the corner that morning. It wasn’t until years later that I understood how life-threatening this was.
That night, still in a daze from the day’s events, I asked my mother how she knew a tornado was going to hit. She said, “Because my head hurt.”
In reflecting on these harrowing or inspiring experiences, we are reminded of the resilience of the human spirit and the profound strength that emerges in the face of adversity and challenge.
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